Method and system for providing enhanced caller identification and privacy management

ABSTRACT

Processing a call from a calling party at a calling communication station to a called communication station includes detecting signalling information for the call, including determining whether standard caller identification for the calling communication station can be provided to the called communication station and detecting a privacy level selected by a called party at the called communication station. The call is routed in response to the signalling information and the privacy level. This permits management of privacy levels at the called communication station using the signalling information for the call.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/273,620,filed Oct. 18, 2002, pending, which is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 09/272,201 filed Mar. 19, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,569 B2,all of which applications are incorporated herein in their entirety bythis reference.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to telecommunications servicesand more particularly to caller identification. More particularly, thepresent invention relates to automatic management of incoming calls at acalled telephone.

Telecommunications service providers typically offer services thatattempt to provide customers with information that enables them todetermine whether or not to accept a call before answering the call. Oneservice that provides such information is caller identification (“CallerID”). Standard Caller ID services generally provide a customer with anindication of who is calling without requiring the customer to answerthe call. These systems typically retrieve information about the callingparty from a database and provide that information to the called party.Customer premise equipment (CPE) in the form of a display device isgenerally used to provide the called party with a visual readout of thename and/or telephone number associated with the calling party.

However, the effectiveness of Caller ID systems can be reduced due to anumber of different occurrences. One common occurrence that decreasesthe effectiveness of Caller ID systems is the inability of a serviceprovider to provide the standard Caller ID information for a particularincoming call. A service provider may not be able to provide thestandard Caller ID information if the Caller ID information is blockedby the calling party, or if the Caller ID information is unavailable orincomplete, or if the calling party has caused his Caller ID informationto be marked private. When the standard Caller ID information cannot beprovided, the called party is not adequately informed about who iscalling and cannot determine whether or not to accept the incoming callbefore answering the call. Because the effectiveness of Caller IDsystems is greatly reduced when information cannot be provided, animproved system and method for providing caller identificationinformation that overcomes these deficiencies are needed.

One known system determines if standard Caller ID information associatedwith a calling party can be provided to the called party. Such a systemis described in copending application Ser. No. 09/122,484, filed Jul.24, 1998, commonly assigned to the assignee of the present applicationand incorporated herein by reference. If the standard Caller ID cannotbe provided, the system transmits a request for audible calleridentification information to the calling party. The provided audiblecaller identification information is then provided to the called partyto decide to answer the call.

Some subscribers prefer additional flexibility in managing incomingcalls. Such subscribers prefer to vary the levels of privacy accordingto their daily schedule or circumstances. One system allows thesubscriber to establish a schedule of times when incoming calls areblocked. Also, the system allows establishment of tiers of access inwhich calls on some tiers are blocked while others are permitted. Thissystem provides some additional flexibility for the subscriber butrequires substantial time and effort to set up the access tiers and toassign calling numbers to the tiers. A less cumbersome system and methodfor managing incoming calls are required.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telecommunications system of a preferredembodiment. FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method of one embodiment forproviding enhanced caller identification.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a first preferred embodiment of thetelecommunications system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a second preferred embodiment of thetelecommunications system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method of a preferred embodiment forproviding enhanced caller identification using the system of FIG. 3 or4.

FIG. 6 is a more detailed flow chart of a portion the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a more detailed flow chart of a portion the method of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method of providing enhancedcaller identification information.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating in further detail a portion of themethod illustrated in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating in further detail a portion of themethod illustrated in FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

By way of introduction, the preferred embodiments described belowinclude a method and system for providing a called party with audiblecaller identification information when standard caller identificationinformation cannot be provided, and completing calls in accordance witha privacy mode or level selected by the called party. In one embodiment,the called party selects the level of privacy to use at a given time. Atthe highest level of privacy, all calls are routed to a voice messagingsystem. At a next level of privacy, all callers are prompted for audiblecaller identification information which is then transmitted to thecalled party who may elect to take the call. At a next level of privacy,calls for which standard caller identification information is blocked,unavailable, incomplete or marked private are prevented from beingconnected to the called party. Instead of connecting the calls, arequest for audible caller identification information is transmitted tothe calling party. If the calling party provides the requested audiblecaller identification information, the audible information istransmitted to the called party. At a next level of privacy, calls withblocked caller identification information are cancelled and a message isplayed to the caller. Other calls are completed. This allows the calledparty to manage the level of privacy afforded the called telephone bymaking use of caller identification signalling information included withthe call.

By way of example, FIG. 1 depicts a system 10 of a preferred embodiment.The system 10 comprises a network 20, a called communication station 30coupled with the network 20 and a calling communication station 40coupled with the network 20. The term “coupled with,” as used herein,means directly coupled with or indirectly coupled with through one ormore components. The network 20 preferably comprises a computer usablemedium having first, second and third computer readable program s 22,24, 26 embodied therein. It is important to note that while the programcodes 22, 24, 26 have been shown as three separate elements, theirfunctionality can be combined and/or distributed. It is also importantto note that “medium” is intended to broadly include any suitable mediumincluding analog or digital, hardware or software, now in use ordeveloped in the future.

The system 10 is preferably implemented in a telecommunications networkas known to those skilled in the art. Alternatively, the system 10 canbe implemented in a computer network or any other network that isadapted to transmit, store and retrieve information. The callingcommunication station 40 and the called communication station 30preferably comprise analog telephone stations as known to those skilledin the art. According to an alternative embodiment, the communicationstations 30, 40 can comprise any suitable communication station adaptedfor use in the present embodiments as known to those skilled in the art.

The system 10 of FIG. 1 can be used to implement the method 100 depictedin FIG. 2. When the calling party at the calling communication station40 places a call to a called party at the called communication station30, the first computer readable program code 22 determines whetherstandard caller identification information associated with the callingcommunication station 40 can be provided to the called communicationstation 30 (step 110, FIG. 2). As used herein, the term standard calleridentification (Caller ID) information means the information associatedwith a calling communication station that is typically stored in adatabase and automatically retrieved and provided to a called party asknown to those skilled in the art. If it is determined that standardcaller identification information cannot be provided, the secondcomputer readable program code 24 transmits a request for audible calleridentification information to the calling communication station 40 (step120). As used herein, the term audible caller identification informationmeans audible information provided by the calling party in response to arequest for such information. If the calling party provides therequested audible caller identification information, the third computerreadable program code 26 transmits the audible caller identificationinformation to the called communication station 30 (step 130). Afterreceiving the audible caller identification information, the calledparty can decide whether to proceed with the call or cancel the call(step 140).

By way of further example, FIG. 3 depicts a preferred embodiment of thesystem 10 described above. The system 200 comprises a service switchingpoint (SSP) 220, a signal transfer point (STP) 230, a service controlpoint (SCP) 240, a first SCP database 242, a second SCP database 244, aservice node (SN) 250, a central office 260, called telephone station222 and calling telephone station 262. Intelligent network systemcomponents, commonly referred to as advanced intelligent network (AIN)components, suitable for implementing the present embodiment arecommercially available from several vendors and are known to thoseskilled in the art. AIN components can implement computer readableprogram code as known to those skilled in the art. Vendors of AINcomponents typically have a preferred programming language and operatingplatform as known to those skilled in the art.

SSP 220 preferably comprises an AIN switch that routes calls, recognizesand responds to triggers, generates queries to obtain call informationand responds to returned call information. SSP 220 connects calledtelephone station 222 with central office 260 to enable calls to beplaced between called telephone station 222 and calling telephonestation 262. SSP 220 preferably communicates with SCP 240, centraloffice 260 and SN 250 by utilizing a signaling protocol such asSignaling System 7 (SS7) or other such signaling protocols as presentlyknown to those skilled in the art or developed in the future. SSP 220preferably generates queries to SCP 240 and receives and responds toresponses to the queries returned from SCP 240.

STP 230 preferably comprises a network element that transfers signalingcommunications in response to signaling protocols such as SS7 or othersuch signaling protocols as presently known to those skilled in the artor developed in the future. STP 230 preferably transfers queries fromSSP 220 to SCP 240 and transfers responses to the queries from SCP 240to SSP 220.

SCP 240 preferably comprises an AIN element that stores call informationand receives and responds to queries. SCP 240 preferably stores callcontrol information in the first SCP database 242 and can access thestored call control information. SCP 240 also stores standard calleridentification information in the second SCP database 244 and can accessthe stored caller identification information. SCP 240 receives queriesgenerated by SSP 220 and preferably responds to the queries byperforming database searches to locate the requested call controlinformation or caller identification information as known to thoseskilled in the art. SCP 240 can forward the call control information orcaller identification information to SSP 220.

SN 250 preferably comprises a network element that enablescommunications between telephone stations 222, 262 and the network. SN250 can preferably transmit messages to and receive responses fromtelephone stations 222, 262. SN 250 can generate announcements that canbe transmitted to telephone stations 222, 262. SN 250 can transmitresponses such as audible caller identification information fromtelephone station 262 to telephone station 222 by connecting telephonestations 222, 262 or by recording and playing back the responses asknown to those skilled in the art. The announcements transmitted totelephone station 222 preferably comprise accept and reject optionsalong with requests for input from the telephone station 222. Therequests for input preferably comprise requests for input that can beused by SN 250 to cancel calls to telephone station 222, connect callsto telephone station 222, forward calls to a voice mail system oranother location such as another telephone line, and transmit messagesto telephone station 262. As used herein, the term voice mail systemmeans all types of message recording systems as known to those skilledin the art. SN 250 can preferably receive and respond to the inputtransmitted from telephone station 222. The term input means anysuitable signal such as DTMF tones, voice input, dial pulse input ormodem/fax input as known to those skilled in the art.

Database 242 preferably comprises a data storage element for use withSCP 240 as known to those skilled in the art. Database 242 preferablystores call control information that can be implemented by SSP 220 tocontrol calls. Such call control information is known to those skilledin the art.

Database 244 preferably comprises a standard caller identification withname database as known to those skilled in the art. Database 244preferably includes the name of the person associated with callingtelephone station 262 along with the telephone number that is associatedwith calling telephone station 262. Database 244 can alternativelycomprise a caller assistance database as known to those skilled in theart. While databases 242, 244 are depicted within a telecommunicationssystem, databases 242, 244 can comprise any suitable databasescontaining information adapted for use in the present embodiment and arenot limited to databases located within a telecommunications network. Itis also important to note that while databases 242, 244 are shown asseparate components, they can be implemented as a single database.

Central office 260 preferably comprises an AIN network switch as knownto those skilled in the art. Central office 260 enables calls to beplaced between calling telephone station 262 and called telephonestation 222. Alternatively, central office 260 can comprise a non-AINnetwork switch as known to those skilled in the art.

Telephone stations 222, 262 preferably comprise analog telephone sets asknown to those skilled in the art. Alternatively, telephone stations222, 262 can comprise wireless, PCS, ISDN or any other form ofcommunication station known to those skilled in the art. Calledtelephone station 222 preferably includes CPE equipment for use withcaller identification services as known to those skilled in the art.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an alternate embodiment of the system of FIG. 3is shown. The system 280 comprises an SSP 220; a called telephonestation 222; an STP 230, an SCP 240; a first SCP database 242, a secondSCP database 244, a central office 260 and a calling telephone station262, all as described above in reference to FIG. 3. The system 280 alsoincludes an intelligent peripheral (IP) 290 that communicates with SSP220 and performs the same functions as the SN 250 as described herein.The IP 290 has an ability to communicate with the SCP 240 using either acommunication network such as TCP/IP connecting the IP 290 and the SCP240 or alternatively by communicating indirectly with the SCP 240through the SSP 220.

The systems depicted in FIGS. 3 and 4 can be utilized to implement themethod 300 depicted in FIG. 5. For purposes of illustration, assume thata calling party at calling telephone station 262 places a call to acalled party at called telephone station 222. In an attempt to connectthe call, central office 260 routes the call to SSP 220.

In this embodiment, when the call is routed to SSP 220, a terminatingattempt trigger is activated (step 310) when SSP 220 attempts to connectthe call to called telephone station 222. The trigger generates a querythat is sent to SCP 240 (step 320). The query preferably includes acalling party identification parameter which can include a calling partypresentation restriction indicator as known to those skilled in the artand requests the return of standard Caller ID information. The telephonenumber associated with the calling telephone station 262 is preferablyincluded in the calling party identification parameter of the query asknown to those skilled in the art. SCP 240 receives the query anddetermines whether or not the called party at called telephone station222 subscribes to the present service. In response to a determinationthat the called party subscribes to the present service, SCP 240analyzes the information included with the query to determine whetherstandard Caller ID information can be provided to called telephonestation 222 (step 330).

If the standard Caller ID information cannot be provided, SCP 240accesses database 242 to retrieve call control information (step 340)and returns the call control information to SSP 220 (step 350). The callcontrol information can be sent to SSP 220 in response to a leaddirectory number that uniquely identifies each SSP as known to thoseskilled in the art. In response to the call control information, SSP 220routes the call to SN 250 or IP 290 (step 360). When SN 250 or IP 290receives the call, SN 250 or IP 290 generates a request for audiblecaller identification information that is transmitted to the callingtelephone station 262 (step 370). The request preferably comprises astatement indicating that the called party doesn't accept calls fromunidentified callers and a request for the calling party to speakhis/her name and/or the name of the company that they represent. Therequest preferably comprises an audible message. Alternatively, therequest can be displayed on CPE equipment as known to those skilled inthe art. If the calling party provides an audible response, SN 250 or IP290 enables the audible response to be transmitted to called telephonestation 222 (step 380). Alternatively, if the calling party does notprovide the requested information, the call is canceled (step 390),preferably after a suitable message is played to the calling party.

The step of determining whether standard Caller ID information can beprovided (step 330, FIG. 5) preferably comprises the steps shown in FIG.6. The SCP 240 preferably first determines whether standard Caller IDinformation is unavailable (step 410). The SCP 240 preferably determineswhether the standard Caller ID information is unavailable by determiningwhether or not the calling party identification parameter is present inthe query as known to those skilled in the art. In addition, the SCP 240preferably determines whether the standard Caller ID information isincomplete (step 420). The SCP 240 preferably determines whether thestandard Caller ID information is incomplete by determining whether ornot the calling party identification parameter is a valid telephonenumber as known to those skilled in the art. In addition, the SCP 240preferably determines whether the standard Caller ID information hasbeen blocked (step 430). The SCP 240 preferably determines whether thestandard Caller ID information has been blocked by determining whetheror not the calling party identification presentation restrictionindicator is set to “presentation restricted” as known to those skilledin the art.

The step of providing the audible caller identification information tothe called party (step 380, FIG. 5) preferably comprises the steps shownin FIG. 7. Preferably, called telephone station 222 rings (step 510) tosignify that a call has been placed to called telephone station 222.While called telephone station 222 is ringing, a text message can betransmitted to called telephone station 222 and the text message can bedisplayed on the CPE equipment at called telephone station 222 (step520) as known to those skilled in the art. The text message preferablyindicates that the call is being handled by the present service andidentifies the name of the present service. If the called party answersthe telephone (i.e. the telephone is off hook), the audible calleridentification information that was provided by the calling party istransmitted to called telephone station 222 (step 530). The audiblecaller identification information is preferably recorded and played backto the called telephone station 222 as known to those skilled in theart. Alternatively, the calling telephone station 262 and the calledtelephone station 222 can be connected such that the audible calleridentification information can be transmitted between the telephonestations 262, 222.

After the audible caller identification information has beentransmitted, a message is transmitted to called telephone station 222(step 540). The message preferably includes instructions that allow thecalled party to accept or reject the call by providing the appropriateinput. The message preferably comprises audible instructions that aretransmitted by SN 250 or IP 290 to called telephone station 222. Theaccept and reject options preferably comprise, accepting the call byenabling the connection of the call to the called telephone station 222,canceling the call by disabling the connection of the call to the calledtelephone station 222, forwarding the call to a voice mail system oranother location and sending a message to calling party. The messagesent to the calling party can comprise a request that the called partybe taken off a telemarketer's call list. Each of these options ispreferably invoked when the called party provides the appropriate input.

In response to input provided by the called party, the SN 250 or IP 290can process the call (step 550). Accordingly, the SN 250 or IP 290 canconnect the call, cancel the call, transmit a message to the callingtelephone station 262 or forward the call to a voice mail system oranother location in response to the input provided by the calling party.

In a further alternative embodiment, the present systems and methods canbe configured to work in conjunction with answering machines and voicemail systems. After the called party answers the telephone (step 530,FIG. 7) a message can be transmitted to the called telephone station 222requesting the called party to provide appropriate input to signify thatthe call is being answered by a human. The message preferably comprisesan audible message and is preferably transmitted to the calledtelephone-station 222 by the SN 250 or IP 290. The input can compriseany suitable signal such as DTMF tones, dial pulse input, modem/faxinput or voice input as known to those skilled in the art. If the calledparty provides the requisite input, the audible caller identificationinformation provided by the calling party can be transmitted to thecalled party. However, if input is not provided within a predeterminedamount of time, the audible caller identification information is nottransmitted to the called party. Instead, the calling party can beconnected with the answering machine or the voice mail system and thecalling party can leave a conventional message. The preferred timeperiod within which the input must be received to prevent the callingparty from being connected with the answering machine or voice mailsystem is three seconds.

Alternatively, if an answering machine or a voice mail system answersthe call, the answering machine or voice mail system can immediatelytransmit a tone input to the SN 250 or IP 290 to signify that the callis not being answered by a human. In response to the input, the SN 250or IP 290 can connect the calling party to the answering machine or thevoice mail system and the calling party can leave a conventionalmessage.

In order to connect the calling party with the answering machine orvoice mail system as described herein, the SN 250 or IP 290 candisconnect from the called telephone station 222 and can place a secondcall to the called telephone station 222 by dialing the telephone numberassociated with the called telephone station 222. This second call canthen be answered by the answering machine or voice mail system so thatthe calling telephone station 262 is connected to the answering machine,voice mail system, or called telephone station 222 and the calling partycan leave a conventional message.

In a further alternative embodiment, the present system and method canbe configured to work in conjunction with standard caller identificationservices. After the trigger is sent from the SSP 220 (step 320, FIG. 5),the SCP 240 can determine whether the called party at the calledtelephone station 222 has subscribed to the present service. If thecalled party has not subscribed to the present service, the call can behandled in accordance with standard Caller ID procedures as known tothose skilled in the art. In addition, if the SCP 240 determines thatthe standard caller identification information can be provided (step330, FIG. 5), the call can be handled in accordance with standard CallerID procedures as known to those skilled in the art.

In a further alternative embodiment, a party can be connected with thecalled telephone station 222 without having to speak his/her namethrough the use of a password override system as known to those skilledin the art. This can enable the party to, among other things, speak witha party at the called telephone station 222 or remotely access anymessages left for them and stored on the answering machine or voicemailsystem without the party having to speak his/her name as required by thepresent system. The party can place a call to called telephone station222 from a remote telephone station. If the party calls from a telephonestation for which standard caller identification information cannot beprovided, the party will be instructed to speak his/her name asdescribed herein. Rather than speaking his/her name, the party cantransmit input, of the form described herein, to the SN 250 or IP 290,to override the present system and enable a connection with the calledtelephone station without having to speak his/her name. The input cancomprise a password or other suitable identification as known to thoseskilled in the art. The SN 250 or IP 290 can receive this input andcompare the input received to data stored within SN 250 or IP 290. Thestored data can comprise passwords or other identification data as knownto those skilled in the art and can be stored in a reference table asknown to those skilled in the art. If the input received matches thedata stored, the SN 250 or IP 290 can enable the party to be connectedto called telephone station 222, without requiring the party to speakhis/her name.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method 800 for providing enhancedcaller identification information to a called communication station. Inthe preferred embodiment, the method operates in accordance with themethods and apparatus described above in connection with FIGS. 1-7, inparticular in accordance with the system 200 of FIG. 3 or the system 280of FIG. 4. The method 800 illustrates processing a call from a callingparty at a calling communication station to a called party at a calledcommunication station and begins at step 802.

At step 804, it is determined if standard caller identificationinformation can be provided for the calling communication station to thecalled communication station. The system may be unable to providestandard caller identification information because, for example, theinformation is unavailable, because the information is incomplete,because the caller identification information is blocked or because thecaller identification information is marked private. Thus, the methodsteps illustrated in FIG. 6 may be performed to complete step 804.Caller identification information is conveyed in signalling informationbetween SCP 240 and SSP 220 (FIG. 3), in one example.

At step 806, it is determined if a privacy level has been selected bythe called party at the called communication station. One example of theprocess of selecting a privacy level by the called party will bedescribed in further detail below in conjunction with FIG. 10.Information about the privacy level may be stored, for example, indatabase 242 associated with the SCP 240 (FIG. 3) If a privacy level hasbeen selected, the system detects the selected level for subsequentprocessing.

At step 808, the system routes the call according to the signallinginformation and the privacy level. This is illustrated in greater detailin FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a method 900 showing in furtherdetail a portion of the method illustrated in FIG. 8. The steps ofmethod 900 of FIG. 9 form one embodiment of method step 808 of FIG. 8.Other method steps may be employed in addition or in the alternative.The method 900 illustrated in FIG. 9 begins at step 902.

At step 904, the system determines if the called party has detected ahighest level of privacy, referred to in FIG. 9 as a super-privacylevel. If so, at step 906, the system forwards all calls including thecall currently being processed to a voice messaging system such as voicemail. Using the voice messaging system, a prerecorded message may beplayed to the calling party rejecting the call or inviting the callingparty to leave a message for the called party. The called party's phonedoes not ring or otherwise indicate the currently processed call and themethod ends at step 908.

If at step 904 the called party had not selected the highest level ofprivacy, at step 910 it is determined if the called party had insteadselected a next level of privacy, indicated in FIG. 9 as enhancedprivacy. In this mode, all callers are required to record their name andthe called party must accept the call before the call is completed. Thisapplies even to a calling party whose caller identification can beprovided to the called party. If this mode has been selected at step 912the system transmits a request for audible caller identificationinformation to the calling party. The request may be a prerecordedmessage prompting the calling party to speak and provide the audiblecaller identification information, which is recorded for playback to thecalled party. At step 914, the audible caller identification informationis transmitted to the called party. At step 916, the called partydecides to accept or reject the call. The call is either completed orrejected. If the call is rejected, a suitable message may be played toinform the calling party of the outcome of the call. The methodterminates at step 918.

If at step 910, the called party had not selected that level of privacy,at step 920 it is determined if the called party had instead selected anext level of privacy, indicated in FIG. 9 as standard privacy. In thismode, if standard caller identification information can be provided tothe called party, the call is completed without further intervention bythe system. If the standard caller identification information cannot beprovided, the calling party is prompted to provide audible calleridentification information which is then transmitted to the calledparty. Thus, in step 922, the system determines if the standard calleridentification information can be provided. If so, the call is connectedat step 924 and the method ends at step 926. If not, step 912, step 914and step 916 are performed to obtain the audible caller identificationinformation for the called party.

If at step 920 the called party had not selected the standard level ofprivacy at step 928 it is determined if the called party selectedblocking mode. In blocking mode, calls having caller identificationinformation which is blocked are cancelled without ringing the calledparty's telephone. A message is preferably played to the calling partyto indicate that the calling party is not accepting calls having blockedcaller identification information. All other calls are completed. Thismode is convenient for screening calls from telemarketers, who typicallyblock caller identification information on their calls. At step 932, itis determined if the caller identification information is blocked. Thisis evident from the signalling information conveyed with the call. Ifso, at step 934 the call is terminated, a suitable message is played tothe calling party and the method ends at step 918. If the calleridentification information is not blocked, at step 936 the call isconnected conventionally and the method ends at step 918.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a method 1000 for selecting aprivacy level by a subscriber on a system operating in conjunction withthe method of FIG. 8. The method 1000 would typically be practiced priorto receipt of a telephone call. The method allows the subscriber toestablish a privacy schedule that automatically adjusts the privacy modebased on the time of day. Further, the method allows the subscriber tointeractively select a privacy mode based on current circumstances. Forexample, during dinner or while watching a movie the subscriber may wishto increase the selected privacy level. When waiting for an expectedcall, the subscriber may wish to decrease the privacy level.

The method 1000 begins at step 1002. At step 1004, the called party hasthe option to establish a privacy schedule. If this option is selected,at step 1006 a schedule routine is followed. Any suitable routine may beused for establishing the privacy schedule. For example, the subscribermay call a designated telephone and interactively specify schedule timesand associated privacy levels using a telephone keypad. A personalcomputer may access a specified World Wide Web site over the Internet toachieve the same result. If a schedule has been previously set, it maybe altered or cancelled. After the schedule is set, the method ends atstep 1008.

At step 1010, the subscriber is given the option to interactively turnon or turn off privacy features, including the privacy feature itself.If this option is selected, the system enters an on/off routine at step12 for interactively processing the subscriber's requests. The methodends at step 1014.

At step 1016, the subscriber is given the option to enable a PIN featureof the privacy system. According to this feature, the subscriber mayestablish one or more personal identification numbers (PINs) forselected callers to use to bypass one or more of the privacy levels. Ifthe PIN feature is activated, upon calling the subscriber, the callingparty may provide personal identification information by providing a PINor by another means. If the personal identification information matchesaccess information established by the subscriber, one or more levels ofthe privacy feature can be bypassed and the call completed to thesubscriber. If this option is selected, at step 1018 a PIN routine isentered for specifying the PIN and the privacy levels which may bebypassed. The method ends at step 1020. Also, if no option was selectedby the subscriber, the method ends at 1022. Other options may beprovided as well.

An alternative embodiment in accordance with the present inventioncombines the privacy features described above with the features ofmultiple-ring service available on many telephone systems. Inmultiple-ring service, two or more ring cadences may be provided to thesubscriber line to ring the subscriber's phone. Each ring cadence isassociated with one or more called parties on the subscriber line. Forexample, a call to a teenage child might be signalled by a ring cadencedifferent from the ring cadence provided for the child's family. To usemultiple-ring service, a calling party is prompted to provide a personalidentity indicator associated with the desired party at the calledcommunication station. This may be done, for example, by playing arecorded message to the calling party and detecting key presses of thetelephone keypad by the calling party to indicate the intended recipientof the call. The system determines the intended recipient of the callfrom among a plurality of called parties at the called communicationstation and provides signalling information to the called communicationstation to initiate the appropriate ringing cadence for the intendedrecipient.

Multiple-ring service may be modified by determining a privacy levelassociated with the intended recipient and then routing the call inaccordance with the caller identification or other signallinginformation and the recipient privacy level. Each available ring cadencehas associated therewith a privacy level which may be selected by aparty at the called communication station prior to receipt of any calls.The privacy level may be selected, for example, as illustrated in FIG.10. Handling of incoming calls is similar to the method 900 of FIG. 9.Additional steps typically include transmitting to the calling party arequest for an indication of the intended recipient, in which thecalling party is prompted to enter a key press or other indication,receiving the indication, and associating the indication with a privacylevel for the intended recipient. Subsequent call processing may be asillustrated in FIG. 9.

The present embodiments provide an efficient and effective method andsystem for providing caller identification information to a customerwhen standard caller identification information is unavailable,incomplete, or blocked. The present embodiments further provide greaterflexibility for the called party by allowing privacy levels to becustomized to the called party's schedule or circumstances or to thoseof a number of call recipients at the subscriber line. This improves theability of the called party or subscriber to manage the level of privacyafforded the called telephone by making use of caller identificationsignalling information included with the call.

It is to be understood that a wide range of changes and modifications tothe embodiments described above will be apparent to those skilled in theart and are contemplated. It is therefore intended that the foregoingdetailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting,and that it be understood that it is the following claims, including allequivalents, that are intended to define the spirit and scope of theinvention.

It is therefore intended that the foregoing detailed description beregarded as illustrative rather than limiting, and that it be understoodthat it is the following claims, including all equivalents, that areintended to define the spirit and scope of this invention.

1. A method for processing a call from a calling party at a callingcommunication station to a called communication station in acommunication network, the method comprising: receiving the call at aswitch; activating a terminating attempt trigger at the switch inresponse to the call; transmitting a terminating attempt query from theswitch to a service control point (SCP) of the communication network inresponse to the terminating attempt trigger; at the SCP, in response tothe terminating attempt query, determining whether standard calleridentification for the calling communication station can be provided tothe called communication station; if standard caller identification forthe calling communication station can not be provided, retrieving callcontrol information from a SCP database; determining from the SCPdatabase a recipient privacy level associated with an intended recipientof the call; returning the call control information and the recipientprivacy level to the switch; in response to the call controlinformation, routing the call from the switch to a service platform ofthe communication system; at the service platform, in response to thecall control information and the recipient privacy level, routing thecall and all calls to a voice messaging system when the recipientprivacy level corresponds to a selected highest privacy level, when therecipient privacy level corresponds to a selected enhanced privacylevel, for the call and all calls transmitting a request for audiblecaller identification information to the calling communication station,transmitting the audible caller identification, if provided, to thecalled communication station, and further processing the call inresponse to subsequent input from the called communication station, andwhen the recipient privacy level corresponds to a selected standardprivacy level and when the standard caller identification informationcannot be provided to the called communication station, transmitting therequest for audible caller identification information for the call tothe calling communication station and transmitting the audible calleridentification, if provided, to the called communication station, andfurther processing the call in response to subsequent input from thecalled communication station.
 2. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: determining an intended recipient of the call from among aplurality of callable parties at the called communication station basedon the detected signaling information.
 3. The method of claim 2 furthercomprising: transmitting to the calling party a request for anindication of the intended recipient, and receiving the indication andassociating the indication with a privacy level for the intendedrecipient.
 4. The method of claim 3 further comprising initiating aprompt for the calling party to enter a key press as the indication ofthe intended recipient.
 5. The method of claim 3 wherein, at the serviceplatform, when the recipient privacy level corresponds to a selectedblocking privacy level and when the call control information indicatesthat caller identification information for the call is blocked,terminating the call without completion to the called communicationstation, and connecting the call with the called communication stationwhen the call control information indicates that caller identificationinformation for the call is not blocked.
 6. In a Service Control Point(SCP) of a communications network, a method for processing a call from acalling party at a calling communication station to a calledcommunication station in a network, the method comprising: receiving thecall at switching equipment of the network; at a Service Switching Point(SSP) of the network, generating terminating attempt query in responseto an attempt to complete the call from the SSP to the calledcommunication station; suspending completion of the call to the calledcommunication station; receiving the terminating attempt query from theSSP of the communication network, the query including a calling partyidentification parameter and requesting return of standard Caller IDinformation for the call; in response to the terminating attempt query,determining if standard Caller ID information can be provided to thecalled telephone station; if the standard Caller ID information can notbe provided, detecting a privacy level for the called communicationstation, the privacy level being one of a privacy schedule establishedby a called party, a privacy mode selected by a called party, and aprivacy level bypass designator for bypassing one or more selectedprivacy levels; providing call control information to the SSP inaccordance with the detected privacy level, the call control informationcontrolling routing of the call to a service platform based on theprivacy level and causing the service platform generate a request to thecalling party for audible caller identification information for at leastone specified privacy level, the call control information furthercausing the service platform to record any audible response from thecalling party as the audible caller identification information and toplay the audible caller identification information from the serviceplatform to the called party and detect call completion instructionsfrom the called party.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the call controlinformation causes the service platform generate the request to thecalling party for audible caller identification information for allcalls when the privacy level corresponds to an enhanced privacy level,and for calls for which the standard Caller ID information can not beprovided when the privacy level corresponds to a standard privacy level.